Ten In The Bed, And The Little One Said
by TheOtherMaddHatter
Summary: Derek is part wolf. No, really, he is! One of his parents is now proven to be a full-bred wolf. Isn't genetic testing wonderful? Stiles certainly thinks so. Plan Wolf Park Visit is go!


**Ten In The Bed, And The Little One Said**

* * *

Scott gets the okay to take them to the California Wolf Preserve the same month that Connor is to turn one, the summer months lingering hot and sticky-sweet in the air behind them. His little toddler hands grip the letter tight when Alpha Scott shows them, holding it up for Stiles and Derek to see where they're sitting on the floor with the pup and playing. (Really it is just Stiles playing the doggy-version of peek-a-boo with little Connor while the babe leans up against the stoic Derek, but Stiles can see the bigger dog's smile despite his intentions to hide it.) Connor bounces and wiggles happily when Scott explains where they'll be going, what they'll be doing, and that they can bring Stiles and Derek with them. That Scott got special permission to do so because of Derek's proven genetic heritage, and as a good Alpha, Scott felt it was only appropriate to educate himself and his pup about wolves and their planned return to California.

It will be good for the baby, he explains to Matron Allison, and when she relents, they all do their own version of the Happy Dance, Connor leading the way with happy cooing and a sopping-wet hand wrapped in Derek's haunch fur tightly. Connor is a bouncing bundle of joy, or so the humans keep saying. And for once, despite not really understanding the human concept and love of metaphors, similes, and allegories, Stiles has to agree. (He still can't keep them quite straight in his head, but that's hardly a point of contention. Stiles doesn't really think calling your child a bouncing bundle of anything is all that impressive.) The baby -a boy, strong and healthy and smelling like a mixture of Alpha Scott and Matron Allison- is a good one, as far as pups go, and Stiles thinks that he will be even better because he has a large pack with extended pack allies to grow up in. Connor is a strong pup, and Stiles has loved him since the very first moment that he heard the wee one stirring inside his mother's belly. Fierce and strong and proud, still months and months away from being born into the word.

Stiles thinks that showing Connor where Derek's ancestors come from is going to be good for him, for all of them really, because sometimes Derek doesn't always behave or act like a dog. Or not like you'd expect one to behave, anyways. Instead, he acts like a wolf, pure and simple and gracefully aggressive. Stiles knows it is instinctual for him and can't blame him, but sometimes it is so sudden a switch that the surprise is more harmful then the actions. None of them blame him for it, and learn to live with it and accept it. They all do, sort of, but it'd be easier to understand if they could see others of his lineage in their natural habitat.

Derek rarely speaks about it much, but he has told Stiles on more than one occasion, late at night in the quiet, that his Matron had been a large and beautiful Gray Wolf, free to roam the wilds of the country side at her own whims. She had been graceful, loving, kind, and fiercely protective of him and his Sire. His Sire had been a fairly large Alsatian in his own right, black as the night and as swift as the eye could tract. The two had fallen in love upon meeting at a wolf preserve somewhere in lower Oregon when his father's owner had started working there. (He was a park ranger, Derek had explained, and his father had gone with him and his family to settle in the midst of the wolves. Even if the decision of his Alpha seemed foolish by canine standards.) It had been an accidental meeting, one that should not have gone as it should, because wolves do not often mix with dogs, especially not domestic ones. But despite the natural resistance, the two had defied all odds and that winter, Derek and his litter mates had come into existence.

Stiles also knows that only Derek and one other pup survived the gestation and birthing period, and that the other pup hadn't made it through the harsher-than-normal spring. That winter had been ravenous and long, food had been scarce, and his mother's pack had begun shunning her and the strange smelling brood she'd fostered to the very edges of their pack's territory. This combination left Derek alone as the sole survivor of his parent's union at the end of the Spring months and their harsh treatment. Not long after that, Derek's father had been killed while out visiting his mother, and when the family had come looking for their beloved lost member days later, they had found his body at his mother's den. Fearing the worst, that they had a rabid wolf roaming free, the park ranger had reported her, and other men came and took her away, leaving a stoically-silent Derek alone in the only home he'd ever known. No one had searched the den for pups, despite knowing about their breeding habits, and no one had come for him after the humans had all cleared out.

He shouldn't have survived the summer, but then again, Derek's very good at doing the exact opposite of what he should. Stiles knows first hand how true that is. And so does Derek.

Derek does not follow any sort of order. He is order unto himself. A force of nature to be tenderly dealt with and respected.

And Stiles likes it that way.

Needless to say, the wolf park is a huge hit with all parties, and will be a re-occurring constant in the lives of the entire McCall pack from here on out. Likewise, Derek and Stiles are welcome back as well, both for their good behavior and calming presence. But especially after being photographed with a pudgy, sleeping Connor sitting in the shade of a large tree near the park benches with the rest of the family, attentive eyes and ears on guard from potential dangers of the reserve. Mostly, it's as close as most patrons can get to a real wolf without being in any sort of danger, and although Derek doesn't enjoy large crowds, he doesn't seem to mind one or two eager humans petting him at a time, as long as they have his and Alpha Scott's permission. Stiles knows it is just because Derek enjoys all the ear scratches and belly scriches that come with being in the lime light, and graciously allows Derek all the attention.

After all, how else would he get the spare moment to quiz some of the friendlier wolves about their lives?


End file.
